The field of the invention pertains to sports such as golf, tennis, baseball, and other sports where a ball is struck with a club, racket, bat, paddle or similar device.
Participation in such sports requires considerable practice to attain a performance level that results in a sense of accomplishment and skill. Reasonable skill at any of these sports is required for personal enjoyment of the sport. Playing most of these sports requires a large, specially prepared course or field, and even practice fields limited to hitting the ball tend to be much larger than can be accommodated at a typical home.
Pitching machines for baseball and tennis have become common but are generally too expensive and require too much space for home use. Moreover, as with practice fields, the balls are not conveniently and automatically returned to the user. With a view to providing a device that positions a ball for hitting and that returns the ball to hitting position, the following devices have been developed by the applicant.